A nyaklánc szép.

In Hungarian, the verb to be is often left out in the present tense when the sentence is in the third person.

So instead of saying something like The necklace is beautiful with a separate word for is, Hungarian simply says:

A nyaklánc szép.

This is completely normal and grammatical.

Compare:

• Én szép vagyok. = I am beautiful.
• Te szép vagy. = You are beautiful.
• A nyaklánc szép. = The necklace is beautiful.

In the third person singular and plural, the present-tense to be is usually omitted in sentences like this.

In Hungarian, when an adjective is part of the predicate, it usually comes after the noun.

So:

• A nyaklánc szép. = The necklace is beautiful.

But when the adjective directly describes the noun inside a noun phrase, it comes before the noun:

• A szép nyaklánc = the beautiful necklace

So the position changes depending on the function:

• A szép nyaklánc = adjective + noun phrase
• A nyaklánc szép = subject + predicate adjective

This is a very important distinction in Hungarian.

Hungarian has two forms of the definite article:

• a
• az

Which one you use depends on the sound that follows:

• a before a word beginning with a consonant
• az before a word beginning with a vowel

Since nyaklánc begins with ny, which is a consonant sound, the correct form is:

a nyaklánc

Compare:

• a nyaklánc
• az alma

So this is similar in idea to English a/an, but Hungarian uses this distinction with the definite article, not the indefinite one.

Yes. Nyaklánc is a compound word:

• nyak = neck
• lánc = chain

So literally it is something like neck-chain, which is why it means necklace.

Compound nouns are very common in Hungarian, and noticing their parts can make vocabulary easier to learn.

A helpful approximate pronunciation is:

nyak-laants

A few important points:

• ny is a single Hungarian consonant, pronounced roughly like the ny in canyon
• a is like a short open vowel, not like English ay
• á is a longer version of a
• c in Hungarian is pronounced like ts
• so lánc sounds roughly like laants

The stress in Hungarian is always on the first syllable, so:

NYAK-lánc

A rough pronunciation is:

sayp

More exactly:

• sz in Hungarian sounds like English s
• é is a long vowel, somewhat like the ay in say, but pure and without a glide
• p is just p

So szép sounds approximately like sayp, with stress on the first syllable:

SZÉP

Also, sz and s are different letters in Hungarian:

• sz = English s
• s = English sh

That difference is very important.

They are very important. In Hungarian, accents are a normal part of spelling and they usually show a difference in vowel quality and/or length.

For example:

• a and á are different vowels
• e and é are different vowels

So in this sentence:

• lánc is not the same as lanc
• szép is not the same as szep

When learning Hungarian, you should treat accented vowels as full letters in their own right, not as optional marks.

Normally, if you mean the necklace, you use the definite article:

A nyaklánc szép.

Leaving out the article would usually sound unnatural here. Hungarian often uses articles in places where English does, though the rules are not always identical.

So if a specific necklace is being talked about, a is the expected choice.

Yes, Hungarian word order is fairly flexible, but changing it usually changes the focus or emphasis.

The neutral sentence is:

A nyaklánc szép.

If you say:

Szép a nyaklánc.

that can sound more like:

• The necklace is beautiful
• with extra focus on beautiful, or
• as if answering a question like What is the necklace like?

So both can be correct, but they are not always identical in tone or emphasis.

No. Hungarian does not have grammatical gender like many European languages do.

So nouns are not masculine, feminine, or neuter, and adjectives do not change to agree with gender.

That means nyaklánc is just nyaklánc, and szép stays szép. This is often good news for English speakers.

Yes, the noun would become plural, but the predicate adjective would usually stay the same.

For example:

• A nyaklánc szép. = The necklace is beautiful.
• A nyakláncok szépek. = The necklaces are beautiful.

Here:

• nyakláncok = plural of nyaklánc
• szépek = plural form used in the predicate

So in this type of sentence, the adjective does show plural agreement.

It is neutral and completely natural. It works in normal speech and writing.

It is a very standard example of a simple Hungarian sentence:

• definite article
• subject noun
• predicate adjective
• no explicit is in the present third person

So it is a good model sentence for beginners.